Warriors win in Craft s debut
Sports reporter
After falling behind 1-0 Friday in the first inning, the Marion-Florence/Peabody-Burns baseball team rallied for a 4-3 season-opening victory against the Haven Wildcats.
Warrior pitcher Cody Weerts threw a complete game while giving up three runs, two unearned.
After an error allowed a run to score in the first inning, Weerts settled down and didn't give up another run until the fifth inning.
"I was really happy with our pitching," head coach Shaun Craft said. "We hung in there until the end."
MFPB answered back in the bottom of the first inning with two runs despite striking out four times and recording zero hits.
After Weerts drew a leadoff walk, center fielder Calvin Jeffrey reached on a passed ball after striking out, giving the Warriors first and third with nobody out. Jeffrey stole second and first baseman Clayton Garnica struck out.
Two pitches later Weerts scored on a passed ball, but catcher Aaron Burnett went down swinging for the third strikeout of the inning, but just the second out. Shortstop Todd Woodruff was the fourth Warrior to strike out in the inning, but not before MFPB scored its second run. During his at bat, Haven's Isaiah Reese threw a wild pitch and Jeffrey started home. He then decided he wasn't going to make it and retreated to third. A good throw would have nailed him, but instead the ball sailed into left field, allowing Jeffrey to make the score 2-1 in favor of the Warriors.
"I went to a coaching clinic and was told there are 14 ways to score a run," Craft said. "It doesn't always take a hit, and we found that out."
In fact, MFPB had just two hits the entire game.
Both pitchers settled down for the next few innings, until the Warriors were threatening again in the bottom of the fourth.
With two outs and a runner on third, Woodruff reached on an error allowing the third MFPB run to score. The lead didn't last long.
More errors led to runs in the bottom of the fifth. After one run scored due to an error, a Haven batter smashed a drive toward third baseman David DeForest. The ball just kicked off his glove, allowing the Wildcats to tie the game at three.
After stranding a runner at second in the bottom of the fifth, Weerts retired the side without a run in the top of the sixth.
With one out in the bottom of the inning and a runner second, Woodruff came to the plate looking to knock in a run the conventional way. Instead of relying on an error, Woodruff crushed a line drive into left field, scoring Weerts with the go-ahead run.
Weerts finished out the game with three outs in the top of the seventh, as the Warriors gave Craft a victory in his first game as head coach.
"We just found a way to get it done," he said.
The Warriors competed in another close contest in the second of a double-header, this time falling, 5-3.
Woodruff took the loss on the mound, despite recording 10 strike outs. He pitched seven innings, allowing five total runs, four earned.
Garnica tried to rally MFPB back in the sixth with an infield RBI-single to cut the lead to 2-1. However, Haven added three runs, all with two outs, in the top of the seventh to stretch the lead to 5-2. DeForest would add a RBI-double in the bottom half of the final inning to trim the lead to two. A new pitcher mowed down the next three Warrior hitters to end the game.
MFPB is now 1-1 overall and in the Mid-Central Activities Association.
Craft knows he has a challenge his first year coaching in the MCAA. But, he only is worried about his team.
"We just have to focus on ourselves. I look at who we are playing as just another high school," he said. "As long as we are ready to play ball, that's all I can ask."
